Culture makes organizations feel different from one another. Different companies, even companies in the same industry, just do things differently. You can experience this for yourself by going to two local supermarkets—one a part of a large chain and the other locally owned. Look around you. Does someone offer to help you when you walk in the door? Do the employees seem happier at one location compared to the other? Do people wear uniforms at one place but not at the other? All of these things can give you clues about the company’s culture.

An organization’s culture is largely invisible. There is no way of walking into a company and immediately saying, “This company is committed to helping employees grow and develop.” But people who look carefully can see signs of an organization’s culture everywhere. For example, employee uniforms, a standardized way of greeting customers, and public reward ceremonies for managers who cut energy use are all signs of a supermarket chain which has a culture based on the assumption, “Efficiency is the way to succeed.” You would see very different symbols, slogans, and ceremonies at a Mom and Pop store where the underlying assumption is, “Our employees and customers are our family."